IRSG: New report calls for harmonised global financial regulation

A group representing the UK’s financial and professional services sector,the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG), has today (25 September) published a new report calling for improved global regulatory coherence. The report highlights how the UK financial services sector could benefit from regulatory consistency across global financial markets.

The report,Global regulatory coherence within financial services, makes the case for on-going industry-led dialogue, and outlines how the IRSG intends to refocus its activity to support the sector’s influence on the global regulatory agenda.

The publication makes two key recommendations:

That the UK Government, regulators and industry should enhance engagement at the global level, playing a leading role in shaping global financial architecture;

The IRSG form a standing committee on global regulatory architecture to set out an approach that enables financial services firms to engage in a coordinated and strategic way with global institutions and standard setters to support the creation of the appropriate level of regulatory coherence.

“Businesses have an important role to play in shaping global regulation and industry should seek to engage productively and proactively with global institutions and standard setter bodies.”

The report has been published after a decade of regulatory reforms following the global financial crash. It’s estimated that the world’s most prominent financial centres in terms of activity are the US, UK, China and Japan.

The International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) is a practitioner-led group comprising senior leaders from across the UK-based financial and related professional services industry. It is one of the leading cross-sectoral groups in Europe for the industry to discuss and act upon regulatory developments.

With an overall goal of promoting sustainable economic growth, the IRSG seeks to identify opportunities for engagement with governments, regulators and European and international institutions to advocate an international framework that will facilitate open and competitive capital markets globally. Its role includes identifying strategic level issues where a cross-sectoral position can add value to existing views.

The IRSG is co-sponsored by the City of London Corporation and TheCityUK.

This report follows three previous substantive pieces of work undertaken by the IRSG with a focus the UK’s future relationship with the EU and other trading partners. Previous reports include: ‘Mutual Recognition - a Basis for Market Access after Brexit’;‘The EU’s Third Country Regimes and Alternatives to Passporting’ and ‘A New Basis for Access to EU/UK Financial Services Post-Brexit’.